“The reports of the drowning of over two dozen Pakistanis in a boat tragedy in Italy are deeply concerning & worrisome. I have directed Foreign Office to ascertain facts as early as possible & take the nation into confidence” says the Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in a tweet.
The pattern is familiar – a committee is set up to investigate or a report is demanded from the head of a concerned department, but the result is always the same- no action on ground or policy change to improve the existing situation.
The boat tragedy off the Italian coast is very sad and shocking as the lives could be saved but the Italian government has its own priorities which is not saving endangered lives on the seas but using inhuman policies to increase its vote bank and please its political supporters.
Italy could have savedthe boat people lives, but it chose not to do so. Pakistan could have averted the tragedy, but it decided to ignore the plight of the common man being crushed by inflation and the profligate abuse of the state’s money. Extreme poverty is compelling people to seek desperate ways to run from the country. Gangs of human traffickers in collaboration with immigration and police authorities roam around freely hunting to trap those wanting to run away from extreme poverty with false promises of lucrative jobs abroad.
The immigration authorities could have been more pro-active in curbing human trafficking, but the priority is not the ordinary Pakistani. The plight of the ordinary Pakistani is always ignored until he becomes the headlines. Mostly the headlines the common man makes or earns in the media is always a heart wrenching tragedy.
The government should try to prevent the illegal immigration of workers to foreign lands by the imposing strict border control at the airports, land routes and coasts.
A government busy in spending 70 million rupees on foreign trip in the early months of its tenure and more millions on protocol cars is unlikely to care about the people’s wellbeing. Tweets are only what they can offer for the public and media not solid policies, jobs or food.
More will die in trying to escape the hell which they call their homeland. Ten Lakh plus educated youth are reported to have left the country last year and more are planning to do so this year- the government need not investigate their departures- it’s the jobs stupid. The cause of their departure seems to be nobody’s concern as majority of the uneducated people are bound to stay here to vote for the politicians. Long live our democracy. Editorial
